Hundreds of secondary schools could face serious disruption within three weeks if teachers vote for a ban on supervision and substitution work.
The ASTI begins balloting its 17,000 members on a proposed ban this week with the result to be known by Friday, October 12th.
If they vote for the ban, supervision could be withdrawn as early as Monday, October 22nd, union sources said last night. This allows for one week's notice to be given to school managers.
Teachers are being offered £27 an hour to perform the duties, for which they receive no payment at present. Under the new deal, they can choose whether they want to do this work or not.
With a withdrawal from supervision/substitution becoming a strong possibility, Department of Education officials and school managers will meet this week to consider contingency plans.
These will examine the feasibility of using non-teachers to do supervision and substitution work if the ASTI withdraws the service.
One possible suggestion is the Department of Education will provide funds to school managers and ask them to recruit teachers or non-teachers to carry out the work. However, school managers say there are several obstacles to this, most crucially the ability of non- teachers to supervise in the classroom.
"Several schools use non-teachers already to supervise in the school yard, but asking non-teachers to supervise a class for an absent teacher is a totally different matter," said a source last night.
In the event of a ban, the disruption could be much more serious than during the ASTI's 30 per cent pay campaign earlier this year, when teachers withdrew cover on selected days.
A ban this time could be indefinite, unless the Department of Education increases its offer beyond £27. But Department sources insisted last night it was a final offer, and was only agreed after some reservations from the Department of Finance.
The developments within the ASTI will do little to boost support for the supervision package, which has to be voted on by TUI members in a postal ballot.
Their result is not expected to be known for three weeks, but one source said the Department could not possibly amend or alter a supervision package when it had already gone to ballot.
Yesterday, it is understood that the ASTI's head office in Dublin received a steady stream of calls from members complaining that they were being denied the right to vote on the £27-an-hour offer.
Instead, they are simply being asked whether the union should impose a total ban on supervision and substitution.
However, other teachers are critical of the offer because the payment is not pensionable and because it is not at overtime rates. Also, some teachers are still angry about the failure to get 30 per cent earlier this year, and regard the supervision as part of the general campaign.
Last night the National Parents Council Post Primary said parents were ready to step in and perform supervision if ASTI bans this work.
Ms Marie Danaswamy, council president, said: "I know several people who were willing to work for £27 per hour. The Department needs to advertise these jobs and see who will apply. There are plenty of people who could supervise," she said.
She said, however, that professional teachers would be required for substitution duties.
The Conference of Catholic Secondary School Parent Associations (CSPA) called on the Department and the school management authorities to develop a new system for supervision. But it also wants teachers to be paid the full overtime rate for performing these duties and for these payments to be regarded as pensionable.
Its spokesperson, Ms Barbara Johnston said : "CSPA is unhappy to see that we are once more facing the prospect of another disrupted school year."